Stepping up support for referendum, UN delivers vehicles to southern Sudan

The United Nations has delivered 20 all-terrain vehicles to the commission tasked with organising the referendum on self-determination for Southern Sudan early next year.

The vehicles were handed over to the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission’s deputy chairperson Chan Reec Madut on Wednesday in Juba, the capital of Southern Sudan, by Denis Kadima, the Director of the UN Integrated Referendum and Electoral Division (UNIRED).

“Initially we thought the referendum process may not take place because of an inadequate number of vehicles for transport,” said Mr. Madut.

The delivery of the 20 Toyota Land-Cruisers, which cost $40,000 each, brings to 110 the number of vehicles available for the vote. The Government of Southern Sudan had earlier donated 90 vehicles to the referendum commission. Mr. Madut said a total of 300 vehicles will be required.

On 9 January the people of Southern Sudan will vote on whether to secede from the rest of the country, while on the same day the residents of the central area of Abyei will cast their ballots to decide whether to join the south or become part of the north.

The referenda will be the final phase in the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), the 2005 pact that formally ended two decades of war between the northern-based Government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) in the south.